The present invention relates to an apparatus and method for cooling a body of liquid.
In recent years there has been an increasing demand by consumers for chilled drinks. However, purchasing cans of drink and storing them in refrigerated conditions is relatively expensive and takes up valuable refrigeration space. At the same time there has been an increase in the buying of carbonated drinks. Expense has resulted in the increased use of carbonation devices for home use, such as the Sodastream.RTM. range of products, which allow a user to carbonate a suitable amount of water and then mix it with a concentrate to prepare a carbonated drink. The use of such devices has largely replaced the earlier use of soda water bottles for such purposes.
However, convenient though these are, they are limited to preparation of relatively small amounts of carbonated water manually in batches and are relatively awkward to use as well as store in refrigerated conditions.
There is a need therefore for an apparatus capable of cooling liquid for drinking as it is required and also for an apparatus for carbonating such liquids automatically with a minimum of manual effort by the user.